March 16, 2005
JoongAng Daily: South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service has sent letters to banks advising them to lower or abolish unreasonable service charges.
Among the fees the agency deems excessive are ATM charge. Except for Korea Development Bank and Korea First Bank, banks charge a service fee of 500 won (50 cents) to 600 won when customers withdraw money from ATMs after 5 p.m.
The agency said the fee shouldn't be assessed until after 6 p.m. It also said it urged banks to lower fees on other transactions involving ATMs and to abolish fees when customers cash or deposit checks issued by other banks.